The first three albums from Fontaines D.C. were a musical triptych detailing the group’s relationship with their Irish roots. 2019 debut Dogrel explored the streets, bars and literary ghosts of Dublin like a punk rock James Joyce, Brendan Behan-referencing follow up A Hero’s Death their on-the-road estrangement from home, while 2022’s Skinty Fia reflected the multifaceted experiences of the Irish diaspora.

For their fourth album, however, the group relocated to an imagined future dystopia with little trace of Ireland’s cultural legacy. One which drew upon Japanese manga, Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grande Bellezza and Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pusher film trilogy rather than Shane MacGowan or The Undertones.

Epic in its scope and scale, Romance is a deeply atmospheric, neon-lit experience which not only radically reconfigures the band’s sound, but in the process presents a fresh lexicon for rock music in the first quarter of the 21st century. “Starburster” is a bruising collision of hip hop and guitars (something frontman Grain Chatten delved further into with his collaboration with UK government-baiting Celtic rap trio Kneecap), “Sundowner” and “Here’s The Thing” warped, future-facing mutations of grunge and shoegaze, while the title track bears the unlikely influence of dreadlocked nu metallers Korn. Wistful closer “Favourite,” meanwhile, shows they can still knock out a conventional indie rock anthem when the feeling takes them. A remarkable step forward for a group fast approaching a league of their own.